The Outsiders & S.E. Hinton background
The Outsiders - A Groundbreaking Young Adult Novel Published in 1967 Hinton was 15-16 when she wrote The Outsiders Considered the first real Young Adult (YA) novel Before this time, books written for teens were more about subjects like going to the prom. Hinton felt that teens needed books that showed their real lives, even if adults didn’t like seeing the messy reality of teens. Hinton said The Outsiders was a story “for teenagers, about teenagers, written by a teenager” (Peck). Hinton confronted the fact that “teen-agers” (a new word at the time) were real people with real problems Bestseller the year it was released. As of 2007, still top selling YA novel of all time (Peck). “Long credited with changing the way Y.A. fiction is written, Hinton’s novel changed the way teenagers read as well, empowering a generation to demand stories that reflected their realities” (Peck). S.E. Hinton in 1968
Sources Peck, Dale. “The Outsiders: 40 Years Later”. New York Times. September 23, 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/books/review/Peck-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0 Bailey. “S.E.Hinton and The Outsiders Create Young Adult Lit” http://wuster338spring2012.wordpress.com/student-pages/s-e-hinton-title-here/